Ebony & Ivory



Ebony & Ivory are Dante's trademark pair of personally customized, semi-automatic handguns, designed to rapidly fire bullets instilled with demonic power  , and are the only weapon to appear in every installment in the series. The right gun, Ivory, was custom built for rapid firing and fast draw times, while the left gun, Ebony, has been modified for long-distance targeting and comfort.

Design
Ebony & Ivory are both M1911-style handguns chambered for the .45 ACP round, and boast a plethora of customized features:
 * Both guns have been modified with pivot-style triggers as opposed to the 1911's usual straight-pull trigger
 * Both feature custom sight systems; Ebony uses a set of target sights, while Ivory uses a pair of combat sights
 * Both feature ported muzzle compensators that reduce recoil and counteract muzzle flip. Both barrels are extend through the compensators and are ported to match the cuts in the compensators.
 * Both use custom slides that have been noticeably thickened and reinforced along the slide travel rails and around the chamber and firing mechanism. The result is a slide that bears a resemblance to SIG-Sauer's M1911 line.
 * Rails have been bolted to the forward portion of both frames. These rails are used to hold the compensators in place.
 * Both use double-stack magazines with slam-pads.
 * HD_Ebony&Ivory.jpg have gold-plated magazine releases, hammers, safety switches and triggers.
 * Ebony features a hooked, two-handed trigger-guard, while Ivory uses a more traditional rounded trigger-guard.
 * Both weapons use ergonomic wood grips which are inlaid with portraits of Victorian women; as befits their names, Ebony's is dark-haired, and Ivory's is fair-haired.
 * Ebony's Ejection port is located on the left side of the weapon, as opposed to the right side (as Ebony is meant to be used left-handed, this causes spent brass to be ejected away from Dante.)

In addition, several customized features are inconsistent between the various games:
 * In the original Devil May Cry game, Ebony utilizes an extended safety latch and a ring hammer. Ivory uses a standard length safety latch and a spur hammer. In later incarnations, both feature spur hammers and standard length safety latches.
 * For Devil May Cry 3, Ivory's frame and slide are both completely left-handed, with all of the controls being mirrored from their normal positions.

The inward-facing side of each weapon's slide (Ebony's right and Ivory's left) is engraved with "Ebony & Ivory" in a cursive script along with a unique design. The outward facing sides (Ebony's left and Ivory's right) are engraved with a dedication to Dante which is explained in Devil May Cry, Vol. 1 to be from Nell Goldstein:
 * For Tony Redgrave
 * By .45 Art Warks

Oddly enough, this engraving also appears on the Luce & Ombra, a similar set of handguns belonging to Dante's father which the Ebony & Ivory are modeled after.

Trivia

 * The Ebony is the only gun that Vergil is ever shown using, during the battle against Arkham in Devil May Cry 3, after stating that he'll "try it [Dante's] way for once."
 * In Devil May Cry 4, in the secret ending, Dante is seen reading a magazine called the "Two HandGun". An image of the guns and a line "Ebony & Ivory™" can be seen on the page Dante is reading.
 * Whenever Dante fires both Ebony and Ivory in cutscenes, he tends to cross the guns together and then fire simultaneously.


 * In DmC, a teenage Dante is shown using these two guns to shoot at a gang of demons. The guns appear to shoot at a slower rate and emit a light purple blast reminiscent of the charge technique used in the previous games. Whether or not this effect was the manifestation of Dante's own power is unknown.